I think that a reasonable review of that play would have offsetting penalties. I have been told that both Dez AND some of the Lions bench walked onto the field as the chaos ensued post-flag-throw as well, things were just heated at that point.
And that was FAR from the only poor call/no-call of the game, with no rhyme or reason, just outright incompetence by the officiating crew.
It's why I support revamping the penalty process. Here's how :
Give both Head Coaches FOUR flags. They can throw them after any play to challenge a call, or a no-call. Have a veteran ref in a box full of displays with direct feed 4K displays at their disposal for all angles of the situation, constantly watching (this is easy, and what Fox/etc already have available anyway). If there was a clear no-call for a definite penalty, it's called down from above. If there was a clear botched call, then it's reversed. If it's a really egregiously bad spot, then it's marked properly, etc.
If the HC loses a challenge, he loses a timeout. However, he does NOT get the challenge flag back, 4 per game max, and depending on how the 1st year goes, consider dropping it to 3. Put a 90 second hard-timer on the challenge timing. 90 seconds is enough time to examine a 5-second or even 10-second play from multiple angles and get a clear understanding of the events. If it's something so ridiculous convoluted that there is still not enough time, tough titties.
And finally, institute a process of bonuses and penalties for the field officials themselves. Every game should be rated in more detail for the officiating, and a great performance should result in a 10% bonus to their game check, a poor performance resulting in a fine against their pay. Yes, I know this would be ridiculously hard to implement due to collective bargaining/etc. Maybe sweeten the deal by raising official's pay, but making their incentive to get it right very high. Perform well, make a lot of extra money, win. Perform poorly, get penalized, and if you outright suck, get fired with a capital F.
The Cowboys/Lions game was FAR from the only game I've seen recently with a slew of BS penalties. It's actually gotten so terrible this year that the year with the replacement refs doesn't look bad by contrast. The biggest problem with it is the inconsistency in calls. Some refs will call the holy shit out of holding, the others will let people drag others around by their necks. Some refs will call the slightest thing a personal foul, the others will shrug off all kinds of stuff. It's just very .. amateur.
Fix it, for the love of god.
And while we still have the crappy status quo, the biggest thing a team can do to win is keep fighting regardless of how stupid the refs are. Some calls really ARE the final say in a game. In yesterday's game Detroit imploded fully in the second half. They could have overcome. They failed.